UPDATE: A New Color: EPA Green

Melanie A. Lasoff

PHILADELPHIA - Everyone has heard of recycled plastic, paper, glass and aluminum, but a recycled office? Leave it to the Mid-Atlantic branch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make sure its offices are "green."

Before employees moved into their new Philadelphia office, the EPA refurbished a downtown building using 260 reused interior doors, more than 170,000 square feet of reused ceiling tile and 3,000 recovered lighting fixtures. All 1,200 employees also have air quality control filters and a room where they can drop off recyclables. And, the office building is close to a public transportation hub.

The EPA is setting a trend, according to David Biddle, associate with the Mid-Atlantic Consortium of Recycling and Economic Development Officials (MACREDO), Philadelphia.

"A lot of people talk about recycling in offices and don't do a lot to make that happen," he says. "They really did something."